Happy Endings
by 2angelgoats
Summary: What if everything that went wrong... went right?
1. Jal & Chris

**Because everyone needs a fluff-fest** ** _now_** **and again, right?**

x

"Hello?!"

"Hello?!"

"Sorry, why aren't I getting through?"

"Hello?! _Hello?!"_

"This is an emergency - please - !"

"Hello?!"

"Hello - please, can you _just pick up the phone_ \- _hello?!"_

"Fucking pick up, will you?"

 _"Hello?!"_

x

He was going to be fine.

That was what the doctor said, anyway. Jal didn't know where Cassie had fucked off to, but apparently someone had rung for an ambulance, and it must have been her. She couldn't be bitter about the girl's disappearance, not really, when she was the one who seemed to have saved Chris' life.

They told her that he had another few months, at least, maybe even a year. Maybe even more - it depended on how well looked after he was. When they told her that, Jal had gone home and spent the whole night cleaning out his apartment. Goodbye, drugs, goodbye, alcohol, even goodbye, coffee. She bought nice, organic fruit and vegetables, rice, hummus, healthy stuff. She scrubbed the windows, floors and ceilings, made all the beds and even bought flowers. No doubt they would have wilted by the time he got home, but that didn't matter. She could just buy more.

She sat by his bed, and when he was awake, they chatted about stuff. She decided to have an abortion; Chris could conceivably die at any point, and besides, even if they had been both perfectly capable parents, there was always the small niggling matter of the fact that he carried a genetic disease... One that Jal did _not_ want to pass onto her own children. One day she might have kids, but it wouldn't be with Chris. Probably adoption, if she really felt she needed to have them. She couldn't really see herself with anyone else. Jal was not naive, and she knew there was a possibility that she might fall in love again, but honestly, that didn't seem to be on the cards.

Jal was not taking any chances. When the doctor told her that he could go home, if he liked, she insisted that he stay.

"He can't stay here forever."

"He can stay here until he gets better." _Or he can stay here until he dies._

x

He didn't die - at least, not for another seven years. That might seem like a brief period of time for another couple, but for them, it was amazing. Right up until the end, he was pretty capable. They ticked everything off his bucket list, made sure there was nothing he would regret. In the end the doctors told him that he would have to be bed-ridden from now on if he wanted to survive much longer, but Jal knew Chris, and she knew before he said it that he would want to be active until the end.

One morning, he got up before her and made her a plate of French toast before going out to sit in the garden (she had worked hard; they had bought a house together. They were going to have their life no matter what, Jal was determined of that). She knew from the moment she opened her eyes that something was wrong, but there was no sadness - at least, not immediately. Just a hollow, empty knowledge. She knew, too, what he wanted, so she ate every bite of the toast - burnt, but delicious, because he had made it - before following him out. He was asleep on the lawn, asleep in what Jal knew to be a very final way.

There was an ache in her gut, a disappointment more than anything else. But she knew that they had a long time, a very long time, more than they could have wished for. His death was inevitable. She called Michelle, they made arrangements about a funeral. Michelle cried a little, but Jal wanted to save her own tears for later. For now, she just wanted to be grateful for the time they had had.

x

 **I think this is as happy an ending as could conceivably be given in this situation...**

 **Well, for me, it's happy anyway. Jal and Chris were never going to have long, were they? I just wanted to make it a little less abrupt... wanted Chris to achieve a few more of his dreams, and Jal to be able to have longer happy and free.**

 **I do have another happy ending in the works, and another two planned after that, but it's your call - is it worth me writing them?**


	2. Freddie, Effy & Cook

**Here we go again!**

"Hi, this is Freddie McClair, who's calling... ?"

"Right. Well, you're not exactly who I want to speak to right now."

"Sorry, _what?"_

"No. No; I mean, do you think I'm fucking stupid?"

"Mate, the way you've been treating Effy is confirmation enough that you're a raving fucking psycho. I don't need to come to your house to see _that."_

"I'm sorry. If you want to talk to me, you can do it at the hospital."

"No. No. No."

"Look, how many times do I have to fucking say it?"

 _"No."_

x

Cook didn't know what would have happened to Freddie if he'd gone to Foster's house that day. The guy was weird... no doubt about it. _Lucky Freds had enough common sense to stay away, yeah?_

If you really felt like fucking things up, you could ask Cook if he was bitter about Effy and Freddie, but you wouldn't get a straight answer. He loved the girl and that wasn't going to change. He loved her a whole fucking lot. But there was one person in the world he loved more, and that was Freddie. _You can sacrifice a whole lot for your best mate, and frankly I don't want to know how far I'd go for Freddie._ Just a girl. There'd be other girls. Love you could get from friends... and sex you could get from pretty much anyone if you were as persuasive as James Cook.

It took a long time for Effy to recover. They had known it would. But things were good, things were okay. Panda and Katie were practically living at the hospital until she left; JJ and Naomi visited frequently too. She and Freddie were as loved up as he'd ever seen them, but that was starting to hurt a lot less. It was _all_ starting to hurt a lot less.

As for their 'friendship', well, it was going strong. He was there in the clinic almost as often as Freddie was, and they had laughs. They talked about shit, sometimes even what had gone between them. Made fun of their past selves every once in a while.

"I love you, Cook," she told him once, "but not in the same way as I used to. And there's going to be a time when you feel the same way about me."

That time, Cook felt, was going to come sooner than Effy expected. _Me and her were always too similar. Together we'd have burned the world apart. But mates is good. Mates is okay._

More pressingly than that, he had Freddie. And he was glad he had realised now that that was what mattered most.

x

Katie fucking Fitch.

Who would have guessed?

It wasn't anything serious at the moment... they were just fucking. But he was at least sixty percent sure that she didn't despise him any more, and hey, that's a good start, right?

There were more important things than that anyway. Important things like Leo and Annie, the latter of whom was four and the former six. Prettiest little kids you could imagine. Leo was the spitting image of his mother, all smirks and blue eyes even at his tender age, whereas Annie was the calmer one, very affectionate. Some people thought it weird that Cook lived with his best mate's family, but to be honest, he didn't care. Effy, Cook, and Freddie (plus the kids of course) _were_ family. There was no-one who mattered more.

Thomas and Panda were in America now, which was difficult for Effy in particular, but they kept in contact. Emily and Naomi had actually ended up staying in Cuba; their diversion into Latin America was more due to Naomi's fascination with the politics than anything else. Emily and Katie were talking about some weird sciencey baby stuff, which made Cook feel... hopeful. The Three Musketeers still met up, close as ever - Albert was twelve at this point and a fucking terror - and even Karen was keeping in contact.

There was a time when Cook didn't see how there could be a happy ending to their story; Freddie, and Effy, and him. But now there was one, and it was perfect, and he didn't know why he had ever wanted more.

 **How's that? Sorry to Ceffy shippers, but I had to pick a side, and this seemed the most likely route.**


	3. Rich & Grace

**Gen 3, so not everyone's favourite, but I couldn't leave them out, could they?**

 **Thankyou all so much for your kind reviews!**

"Do you, Richard Hardbeck, take this woman, Grace Violet Blood, to be your wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward? For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer? In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish? Till death do you part?"

"I do."

"Do you, Grace Violet Blood, take this man, Richard Hardbeck, to be your husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward? For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer? In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish? Till death do you part?"

"I do."

x

They hadn't wanted to let him in.

It seemed ridiculous now, given how good his case had been, but apparently Professor Blood had been very clear about it. _Dickhead._ Of course, when he'd got the marriage documents out it was simple enough to see who was in the right.

Now he was in there, with her, and it made him want to cry. Seeing her there, pure, vulnerable. But with legal evidence, he had every control over what happened to Grace whilst she was comatose. He knew she should be awake, _alive,_ making her own decisions, but that wasn't possible right now, and he was sure she would agree that it was better Rich with the control than her father.

He bargained with her at first. _If you wake up, I'll never play another Slayer song in your presence again. If you wake up, I'll tolerate Liv for a month. If you wake up, I'll love you forever. Not that I wasn't going to anyway._ But that was never going to work.

She looked like Sleeping Beauty, he thought suddenly, and it was that that gave him the idea. He'd done brief research on comas for his Bio exams, and remembered a patronising 'Fun Fact!' air bubble that he'd found amusing.

 _"In Sleeping Beauty, the unconscious princess is awoken with a kiss. The old fairytale has at least an element of truth in it. Pleasure has always been an easy route to the brain. In some countries, kissing and touching are even used as bog-standard ways to wake a patient. The surprise of the stimulation is also guaranteed to be helpful, as this (surprise) is an accepted method of revival."_

Couldn't hurt to try, right?

x

Sunny days are classically enjoyable, and made even better when you can spend them with your favourite people in the world.

Grace was in the kitchen, getting cocktails for the adults and lemonade for little Bliss, who at the moment was standing in awe over Sproglet's cradle. (Sproglet wasn't really called Sproglet. That was just what Rich was calling him whilst Grace decided on a name.) Bliss' parents, namely Alo and Mini, were excitedly going over the gory details of what was currently happening to Mini's womb.

It had been four years since Bliss had been born and, although still keeping in contact with the others, Rich, Grace, Alo, and Mini had become closer than ever. _It's because we're the grown up ones,_ declared Mini once, which had a ring of truth to it.

"Rich? Come and give me a hand with the drinks?" (This was a cleverly manipulated excuse to get them some alone time. Alo and Mini were welcome company, but could sometimes be a little... overbearing. ) Rich only just caught the last details of what they were saying before being swept into the kitchen. Grace was ever inventive and could probably have figured out a way to transport the five glasses outside without needing help, but her true intentions became clear as she reached up to kiss her husband. "Thought I'd rescue you from Mr and Mrs Perfect Parents." (Not quite Mr and Mrs yet, actually, although they were talking about it a lot.) "Do you know, I was feeding - er - "

"Sproglet," supplied Rich helpfully. Grace glared.

"I was feeding _our son_ earlier, and Mini had the audacity to tell me I was doing it wrong! Honestly, they're insufferable. What are they talking about now?"

"Some sort of nonsense about baby number two."

To be honest, Rich was only pretending not to be captivated by the discussion, which had now moved on to baby names. For a boy, they really weren't sure yet, but for a girl, they were thinking about the - very fitting - Joy.

 **And another happy ending over with. By the way, Bliss is the child canonically named Grace. It just didn't make sense to me for her to still be named that if Grace survived.**

 **Next is Naomily, and then that's it for this little jaunt!**


	4. Naomily

**And here is our last instalment... the timeless Naomily. Although I know I sort of covered them in 'Freddie, Effy & Cook', they make up so much of the Skins fandom - and of Skins itself - that I really think they deserve their own section. So this is a second happy ending for Naomily, and although it lacks Cuba, it's in the context of Fire which means I can give more attention to the problem at hand.**

 **Even though it is treating the Naomily parts of Fire as canon (which I suppose it is, it's just so difficult to accept), Effy's story hasn't happened in this universe. It's sort of intended to accept 'Freddie, Effy & Cook' as the preferred fanon for this story, so Freddie is still alive, Effy's not in jail, and Cook isn't an outlaw. That's not particularly important, I just wanted to make it clear.**

 **Thankyou so much for your reviews! Each one means so much... and, if you're wondering, they really do make me write faster xD**

"I don't care if it's illegal."

"I'm sorry, I need the money, it's my _girlfriend - "_

"Please. We don't have to talk about it ever again."

"She's going to _die."_

"I just know they can get the treatment for her if - "

"We need all the help we can get."

"I love her. Don't you see that? I fucking love her."

x

 _"Don't die, baby,"_ Emily whispers over and over. She hates the hospital they're staying in at the moment, so snooty, so over the top, but they need it. Not only is Emily allowed to sleep with Naomi in the nights, but, more importantly, _they're going to save her._ She knows it so completely and utterly - Naomi will live. She has to, doesn't she? Otherwise what's the point in Emily Fitch, anyway?

But what Emily knows more than anything else is that if there's one thing more important than the medicine, it's her voice, it's Naomi's resolution. So she tells her, _"don't die,"_ again, and again, and again. Emily has always been one going to sleep quickly but she won't let herself these days, not until she knows Naomi is asleep. She has to tell her, has to tell her not to die. Naomi must know, again, and again, and again, always, and always, and always, that she must not die. That it is not okay. Emily's girlfriend might be getting the best treatment in the country, but living and dying is simpler and more complicated than that. What Naomi needs is Emily's voice. _"Keep breathing, baby. Don't die. Don't die."_

Effy comes a lot, with flowers, Katie too. Cook, JJ, Freddie, Karen, even Panda and Thomas when they can, they all make regular appearances, and it's so nice, so nice to know that even after all of those years, they are still friends. All of them, together, in a weird, shambolic sort of way. They still love each other and care for each other, just as much as they hate each other and hurt each other, if not more. Katie in particular is a relief to see, because she reminds Emily that there are bright and shameless things in the world, things that are not frail and do not need to spend their time in hospital beds, staring up at the white lights above. But more than that, though, she is simply Katie, and Emily loves her. They love each other. They always have.

But Emily loves Naomi, too (of course, in a _very_ different way), and that's what's most important right now. _"Baby, don't die. I won't let you. Baby, baby, please don't die. Don't die, baby, don't die, don't die, don't die."_

x

Naomi does as Emily says, and it's probably the first time in her life that she's actually listened to something someone tells her to do. She doesn't die in those long, lonely days and nights. She doesn't die lying in that hospital bed in the private clinic, she doesn't die frail and slippery on the kitchen floor when she and Naomi first move in together. She doesn't die of happiness when Emily gives birth for the first time, although that one is a close call. And she doesn't die when the kids have moved out and it's just the two of them, along with grey hairs and memories. They've loved so many people along the way, in so many different ways, but in the end, it was always going to be the two of them.

She dies a few weeks after meeting Grandchild #4 for the first time. She dies because she is tired, not because of a cancer as long forgotten as it is gone. She dies because she can.

Emily holds her in bed that night and feels that something has changed. For the first time, the house doesn't feel like a wonderland of exploration (sex, games, sexy games, cooking and cleaning, sexy cooking and cleaning). It feels like a place which is old, and tired, like Naomi is now. Grandchild #4 was smiling and sweet in Emily's arms - although Naomi went all gruff and pretended she didn't want to hold him - and Emily is happy that people are being born and growing up and just _living._

 _It's a circle_ , said Effy once, when they'd thought the cancer might finish Naomi off. Emily agreed, but not in context. Life was a circle, and birth and death were equally beautiful when they happened in the right ways, but this _wasn't_ the right way. This was the circle cut off too early, and Emily wasn't letting Naomi go without a fight.

Now the fight is over. Emily and Naomi are old and tired. So when they go to bed that night, Emily knows, knows that it's alright now, that this is their time. " _Okay",_ she whispers, and Naomi's last breath is a sigh of relief.

 **Seriously, what is my problem with ending stories about people not dying with death?**

 **But hey ho, they were old, they weren't going to live forever. I might be flattering myself, but it's surely better than an early death of cancer for Naomi and heartbreak for Emily?**

 **Anyway that's the end of our little collection. :) Hope you enjoyed it, despite it being all bad loopholes and excessive fluff haha.**


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